Piano.



No.. 888,188. PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1808.

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J. A.y WESER. PIANO.

APPLICATION I'ILED.MAR.19,190'7.

llllllllll'lllll llllll Q v rwawfoz 5% @7' Y l JOI-IN A. WESER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PIANO.

Specification 0f Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. S, 1908.

Application filed March 19, 1907. Serial No. 363,250.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. tnsnn, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, of the city of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pianos, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to tone modulating devices of pianos and particularly to the devices for modifying the force of the blows of the hammers. The action of therusual hammer rest rail, operated by the soft pedal, has been supplemented in some cases heretofore by a secondary rest rail arranged to act upon a portion only of the hammers of the scale, so that the force of the blows of the hammers of the upper or lower portion of the scale, as the case might be, should be further modiiied, even in soft passages, with respect to the action of the remainder of the hammers. Such supplemental rest rail has been moved bodily toward and from the hammer stems, with both ends moving alike, so that the same modification of the tone occurs at one end of that portion of the scale affected as at the other end.

It is the object of the present invention to provide means whereby the tone at either end of the portion of the scale affected by the supplemental rest rail can be modified with respect to the tone at the other end of said portion of the scale. In this way an abrupt transition from the tone of one portion of the scale to the tone of another portion of the scale can be avoided and desirable musical eflkcts produced to an extent hitherto impossib e.

In accordance with the invention a supplen mental hammer rest rail is provided to coperate with the stems of the hammers and the ends of such hammer rest rail are made separately movable so th at one end can be moved independently of the other or more or less with respect to the other.

The invention is particularly applicable to automatic pianos, but its use is not restricted to pianos of that character as the device can also be applied to ordinary pianos.

The invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which it is illustrated and in which* Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of the upper portion of a piano to which the invention is applied. Figs. 2 and are detail plan views showing the supplemental hammer rest rail in different positions. Fig. 4 is a detail view in transverse section of somo of the parts shown in Eig. l.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing the piano strings o, the hammers l) and the 'finger keys c are shown as arranged to cooperate in the usual man-A ner. The usual or main hammer rest rail (Z is also shown as arranged to cooperate with the stems of all of the hammers t to limit their throw more or less, being operated in the usual manner by the ordinary or any suitable means not necessary to be shown or described herein, The supplemental hammer rest rail c is so supported as to permit its ends to move independently, one of the other, and is shown as supported directly upon the main hammer rest rail d through the medium of independent bell crank levers f which are pivoted u on the rail d, as at f rIhe supplemental rai e is supported upon one arm of each of the bell crank levers f through a slotted connection, as at f2, in order to permit free movement of either end of the rail regardless of the position of the other end, and to the other arm3 of each of the bell crank levers f is connected the actuating device for that end, the two actuating devices being independent one of the other. In the construction shown a link g is connected at one end with the arm f 3 and at the other end with an arm 7L extended from the upper end of a vertical rock shaft h. An arm h2 at the lower end of the rock shaft 7L is connected by a link t with an arm c of a hori- Zontal rock shaft c, mounted in suitable bearings beneath the linger keys, the other arm 762 of which is brought up in a convenient position for operation. As shown in the drawing the two rock shafts l are mounted in close proximity to each other so that the two arms or handles 76 can be conveniently operated with one hand of the performer and the two sets of operating devices are so arranged with respect to each other that movement of the two handles toward each other will produce a movement of both ends of the supplemental rail c toward the hame mers to modify equally the throw of all of the hammers affected, while at the same time either handle can be moved independently of the other to produce a movement of the corresponding end of the supplemental rail e toward or from the hammer stems as may be desired.

It will be evident that the supplemental rail can be supported and operated in various Ways and by various devices, according to the requirements of different instruments, Without departing from the spirit of the in vention.

I claim as my invention:

l. ln a piano, the combination With the strings, hammers and main rest rail, of a supplemental rest rail having its ends movable independently, the one of the other, toward and from the hammer stems, and independent devices to move the ends of the su plemental rest rail together or independent y of each other.

2. In a piano, the combination With the strings, hammers and main rest rail, of a supplemental rest rail supported upon the main rest rail with its ends movable independentl the one of the other, toward and from the iammer stems, and independent devices to move the ends of the supplemental rest rail together or independently of each other.

3. In a piano, the combination With the strings, hammers and main rest rail, of a supplemental rest rail, bell crank levers mounted on the main rest rail and supporting the supplemental rest rail with its ends movable independently, the one of the other, toward and from the hammer stems, and independent devices to move the ends of the su plemental rest rail together or independent y of each other.

4. In a piano, the combination With the strings, hammers and main rest rail, of a supplemental rest rail, bell crank levers mounted on the main rest rail and supporting the supplemental rest rail With its ends movable independently, the one of the other, toward and from the hammer stems, independent operating handles and independent connections between the operating handles and the bell crank levers.

This speciiication signed and witnessed this 15th day of March A. D., 1907.

JNO. A. WESER.

Signed in the presence of:

SAMUEL GOOTENBERG, CONRAD HAmIs. 

